The invention relates to a gondola lift or chairlift with cars detachable from the cable in the stations comprising a transfer track on which the cars run being driven by friction by tired wheel trains, spaced along the track, each wheel being rotatably mounted on a horizontal spindle or axis perpendicular to the track and being driven in rotation.
In stations of the detachable gondola lifts or chairlifts, hereafter called chairlifts, the cars, in this instance chairs, are driven by chains with push fingers or tired friction wheels, spaced along the track. The friction wheels are very flexible and enable driving at variable speeds for braking or acceleration of the cars. The movement, derived from the cable or from a motor, is generally transmitted from one wheel to the other by belts and pulleys, wedged onto the wheel spindles. In the curves of the transfer track, notably in the by-pass zone, the wheel spindles are arranged perpendicularly to the curved track and are therefore no longer perfectly parallel. This results in wear of the belts and notable losses of power. By lengthening the belts and providing return pulleys, alignment defaults of these pulleys can be at least partially compensated, but transmission is more complicated.
The object of the present invention is to achieve an efficient transmission from one wheel to the other in the by-pass zone by simple means.